David Brock to launch journalism institute

6/19/14 4:28 PM EDT

David Brock, the founder of Media Matters for America and public defender for Hillary Clinton, is set to launch an institute to fund journalism that exposes "the nexus of conservative power in Washington," according to an advance copy of his news release.

The American Independent Institute, a relaunch of the former state-based digital news-gathering network of the same name, will provide grants to journalists and work with other news organizations on investigative projects targeting conservatives. Sam Skolnik, an editor and reporter who has worked at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Las Vegas Sun and The National Law Journal, will serve as director.

The institute's first grants have gone to investigations into the Gun Owners of America and its "radical" leader Larry Pratt; the efforts of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to "undermine scientific inquiry"; and "the adverse impacts of the right-wing billionaire Koch Brothers’ business practices," among others.

Several of the funded projects will appear in well-known progressive publications such as The Huffington Post, Harper's and Washington Monthly. The investigation on Pratt and Gun Owners of America, by Alexander Zaitchik, will be featured on a panel discussion at the Open Society Foundations in July and co-sponsored by RollingStone.com.

"The American Independent has a proud history of journalism that spurred progressive change,” Brock, who will serve as president of the institute, said in a statement. “In our new role as a funder of deep-dig reporting projects, our mission — to foster strong journalism with lasting impact — hasn’t changed. With the on-going disintegration of the U.S. newspaper business, the need for alternative sources of information and independent reporting has never been greater. We will continue to meet the new challenges of democracy in a new way.”

Brock founded Media Matters, the watchdog organizations dedicated to combatting conservative bias, in 2004. He is also the head of liberal American Bridge PAC and, in 2014, joined the board of Priorities USA Action, which has announced its support for Hillary Clinton's likely presidential bid. Over the last year, Brock has been one of Clinton's most vocal public defenders, pushing for NBC and CNN to abandon Hillary-related film projects and calling on CBS to retract its controversial "60 Minutes" report on Benghazi.

The Institute's website is here. The list of its first grant recipients is here.